132 



GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



must first be planted in large boxes or half-barrels filled 

 with the prepared compost, and sunk where the water is 

 two or three feet deep. In the Southern States this will 

 not be necessary, but do not put a dormant tuber at once 

 into deep water. Let it first get a good growth in a pot 

 placed in shallow water. The day-blooming tender 

 Nymphseas are managed in much the same way as the 

 night-blooming ones, except that they do not increase by 

 suckers, and the old plants may be kept over from year 

 to year. Dormant tubers are easily sent by mail from 

 March to December. 



Nymphcea Devoniensis. This is one of the choicest, if 

 not the very choicest, Water Lily in cultivation. Under 



Fig. 44. NYMPH^BA DEVONIENSIS. 



the liberal treatment which we recommend for producing 

 the finest specimens, in one season a single plant will 

 cover a circle twenty feet across, with leaves twenty-five 

 inches in diameter, and flowers twelve inches from tip to 

 tip of petals. If confined in pans, tubs, or boxes, the 

 flowers are smaller, but otherwise just as fine. The 

 leaves are rish green, with serrated edges and occasional 

 brown blotches. No person can form an adequate idea 



